Sun of Shadows/Chapter 1
This is the first chapter in Sun of Shadows and the first in part one, Light. Out at Sea There were some things you'd never get used to, Geb was all too well aware. Earth Elmen like him belonged on solid ground - not on a ship in the middle of the ocean. Not that he had a choice. In fact, he was lucky to be alive. Only a little over a week ago he had almost single-handedly destroyed a settlement of the Water Tribe, not on purpose of course. But instead of killing him, they had sent him and his friends onto the next best ship, with which they were now sailing to Xiro. Their home. Geb was almost relieved not to see the edges of the continent on the horizon when he stared out at the waves like he often did. That helps against seasickness, he'd been recommended on his last time on a ship, but that was the least of his problems this time. The closer they came to Xiro, the farther they moved away from their actual destination: Fuocith, the Keeper of Fire. Fuocith was one of the four mighty beings whose help Geb and his friends so desperately needed. Only the Keepers knew how to get to the Plain of Lumeon; the place where they would find the Hero of Light. The day on which the Shadows would rise drew nearer, and yet there was no trace of the chosen one. Geb and his friends had set out to find him, but here, on the Sea of Clouds, they were further away from their goal than ever before. Sighing, Geb turned away from the waves and sat down on the wooden planks instead, at least a faint memory of the earth he was used to. Leaning his back against the railing, he spotted Iris in the crow's nest far above, his friend from the Tribe of Sky. She had enough open sky around her, no doubt about that, and yet she seemed much sadder since their departure than before. She missed Zephyr, Geb knew. Her best friend had deserted her during the battle at the Water Tribe, and no one had heard from him since. Neither of them knew where he was now or why he had fled to begin with, but out of everything Iris had gone through, his disappearance affected her the most. But Zephyr was not the only one who was missing. With a heavy heart, Geb thought of Sedna, the Water Elmin for whom they had landed on this ship in the first place. They had tried to save Sedna from her own tribe - and succeeded - but there had been no sign of her after the battle. Geb didn't doubt that she had escaped, and yet he felt terrible whenever he thought of her. They were friends no matter how many times Sedna had lied to him. But did she know that too? Something nibbled on his foot. Geb was immediately torn from his thoughts and stared at the culprit: a small gray goat with light orange-tinted fur and the bright markings every companion had. Geb couldn't help but smile - where Four-Leaf was, Karzelek wasn't far. And indeed, the Ore Elm stumbled across the deck right over to him, gently picking up his goat. "Here you are! Sorry about that, Geb." "Hey, you can let him." Geb decided to stay seated, so his size difference from Karzelek wasn't all that extreme. "At least he's distracting me." Karzelek grimaced. "I miss the others too," he said, without Geb having to explain anything to him. They both thought the same thing. "Especially Zephyr. Did you know that the Tribe of Sky isn't the smallest one after all, but that the Lightning Tribe is even more than a head smaller than me? That's what he told me the other day." "No, I didn't know that yet." Normally Geb would have sounded more enthusiastic, maybe even asked a question or two, but he hadn't been in the mood for days. What use was this knowledge to him now that they were so far from the Lightning Tribe's territory? Karzelek sat down beside him, Four-Leaf in his lap. "Do you know the story of Copper?" "The mineral?" "No." Karzelek nudged him with his elbow. "The Ore Elm." Of course. Many of the Ore Elmen were named after minerals, Karzelek was just an exception. Stories are better than pondering, Geb decided. "Tell me." "Copper was a worker," his friend began. "With completely opaque gray-brown horns, you know? Not like the other vocations." At the Ore Tribe, vocations were determined by the color of one's horns, Geb knew. At least until he'd spoken to the chief with Iris and the others. He nodded. "He had the task of digging a tunnel with his companion. A secret tunnel to the surface for when Spectralia would be attacked by another tribe. He worked on the tunnel day and night, but he kept going back to check the stability of the sections." "You sound like that's a bad thing." Karzelek looked at him. "You don't become a real tunnel digger if you don't build completely stable from the start." When Geb didn't reply, he continued, "Anyway, he took too long. The Tribe of Sky showed up and killed countless Elmen before we could beat them back." Geb couldn't remember hearing about that on his visit to Spectralia. Iris and Zephyr had never mentioned such an attack either. "And that really happened?" Karzelek's tension was gone in an instant. "No. It's just a legend, I've researched that myself. But of course most people believe in it - and it does have a good lesson, don't you think?" Geb looked cluelessly at his friend, he couldn't really see a message. "It's better to be fast than conscientious?" "Trust in yourself and others so you don't get in the way of your own progress," Karzelek said. "But the real moral was more along the lines of Do your job or half your tribe will die." "I like your version better." "I know." Karzelek leaned against him, Four-Leaf's fur tickling his arm. "And we should stick to it, don't you think? The others can make it without us. And someday we'll see them again." A warm feeling ran through Geb. "I hope so." "Me too." Karzelek's gaze wandered to the bow of the ship, where a motionless blue scaly figure gazed into the waves as the clouds swept over them and cast long shadows. "I'll be glad when we get to leave the ship. Arry scares me." Arry was the son of Thalassa, the ship's captain. He took care of the whale that pulled them across the water, but he didn't seem to be doing anything else the entire day. Geb too had only spoken to him once or twice. "I'm sure he knows what he's doing." "Still... with my tribe, I could understand it because stones don't move. But the water is always in motion and it's just here at sea where Arry behaves so weirdly. I'd ask him about it, but..." "I've already tried that," Geb recalled. "Right on the first day. He didn't even want to talk." Karzelek thought about that. "What about his mother?" "Thalassa? No idea. I thought it'd be better to leave her alone about Arry." Geb wasn't sure if he really wanted to uncover Arry's secret. Some things were better left unclear, especially anything that was about creepy silent guys. Karzelek's eyes showed him his friend felt the same. "Maybe we'll find out someday." Geb just nodded. "Maybe." For a while, the two of them just sat there. Listened to the sound of the waves and watched the passing of the clouds because there wasn't much more to do on this ship. Karzelek sighed. "Sailing was more fun with Vully and Sirsir." Geb had to smile. "That's true. Not just their stories - they also let us get involved." Sure, Iris was allowed to sit in the crow's nest on this ship, but that hardly counted for Geb. All he and Karzelek were allowed to do was prepare the food. Not a very eventful task. "For how long do you think we'll still be out here?" Karzelek also wanted to have something to do again, Geb knew. A task that they could fulfill. Noticeable progress instead of an endless sea in all directions. But like his friend, Geb had no clue. "A day. Two days? Maybe a week. I really don't know." "I'm sure Thalassa knows." Geb nodded. "We don't know what to do anyway. Might as well talk to her a bit." "And not ask her about Arry." "Agreed." The two rose and once again, Geb took a look at the sea - no, no land in sight. But he knew exactly where to find Thalassa: at the helm of the ship. Karzelek had hoisted Four-Leaf over his shoulders like he so often did - despite his small size, he was as strong as any other Ore Elm - and was now following Geb across the deck. Thalassa's turquoise body shone in the sunlight, each scale shining individually. Like the other Water Elmen Geb knew, she wore only the bare essentials of clothing so nothing would slow her down in the water. She noticed the friends as they approached. "Hello, you three," she said in her strong voice as soon as they were within earshot. "What's up?" Karzelek smiled, glad that she had thought of Four-Leaf. But he was still nervous. "We were wondering for how long we'll still be here." "For how much longer we're still going to sail, you mean? For a while. We covered about half the distance." Geb suppressed a groan. Karzelek had been right, with Vully and Sirsir, the time had passed much faster. With those two, with Sedna... and with Iris still in a good mood. It was hard to believe how different their sea crossings had been. "I know what you're thinking." Thalassa looked him straight in the eye, she must have read his expression. "But this whole thing isn't supposed to be a cruise. You're still prisoners of the Water Tribe and this is your punishment. I treat you a thousand times better than Marduk would have liked. So if you want to complain, keep it to yourself. I can still follow his ideas." Geb nodded quickly. "Of course. We're sorry." The captain laughed. "Maybe I should tell Marduk. Or the other tribes. Before you know it, boredom's the maximum sentence in Elysia." "I wouldn't mind," Karzelek said. "Nobody gets killed or hurt, especially innocent people." Geb had to think of the Water Tribe and its law to kill anyone whose companion had died. Sedna was affected as well, but Geb and the others had prevented her execution. That's why they were here now. "You'd have to suggest that to the chief," Thalassa replied. She also knew what Karzelek had remembered. "What I want to say is that there are enough ways to pass the time out at sea. Everyone has their own." "Like Arry?" Geb had said it before he could stop himself. Now all eyes were on him. Thalassa sighed. "Another thing that's on your mind. Why am I not surprised? Surely you are already wondering the whole time what a strange son I have. What's so important - so fascinating - about his job and whether he's awake to begin with. What he thinks about all day and whether his life really fulfills him." "Um." Yeah, that had been Geb's thoughts the last few days whenever he had passed Arry. Of course he hadn't been able to say them out loud, especially not around Arry's mother. But she sounded as if she'd already heard these questions more often than she could count, which was probably the case. "It's fine." At least Thalassa didn't look at him directly anymore, but at the sea ahead. "It's hard to explain, you know? Often I'm not sure even I understand what he's doing." "Have you never asked him?" Karzelek had also become curious. "Of course I have. But to understand his explanations is another thing. He insists on his task and I let him do it. I learned early on that there's no point in questioning Alignak." "Alignak?" Geb repeated, confused. "What's -" He didn't get any further - because suddenly everything went black. Category:Chapters Category:EE3 Chapters